German interior minister ‘disappointed’ over new EU Commission

Berlin (dpa) – German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has expressed disappointment over the performance of the new European Commission with particular reference to migration, in an interview with Der Spiegel news magazine published on Friday.

“I was full of hope on the new European Commission,” Seehofer said. “Today I am, to put it mildly, disappointed.”

“I’m expected to worry about the rescues at sea and about the children in refugee camps in Greece. I’m expected to concern myself with a joint asylum policy,” he said. “But these are all tasks for the EU.”

The new European Commission under former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen took office in December.

Seehofer expressed further disillusionment at the fact that the drive for a European investment programme to alleviate the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic had to come from Berlin and Paris, rather than Brussels.

The interior minister also showed little understanding for von der Leyen’s announcement of possible legal proceedings against Germany for breach of EU treaties with regard to the ruling at the beginning of May by the German Constitutional Court against government bond purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB).

“I’ve noticed that the EU raises treaty infringement proceedings and complaints against its member states unusually frequently,” Seehofer said.

“I would like to query how increased European unity is advanced by this means,” he said.